Charged parking: Contempt notices issued to Cantonment Board of Hyderabad

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued contempt notices to the Cantonment Board of Hyderabad (CBH) for charging a vehicle parking fee despite a 2006 SHC order declaring the levy illegal. The Hyderabad circuit bench ordered the CBH on Tuesday to submit a reply on November 11.

The petitioner, advocate Ghulam Fazi Sajid, informed the court that the CBH continues to charge the parking fee in violation of the SHC's judgment. The CBH challenged the SHC's order in the Supreme Court but the latter upheld the judgment.

"We have prayed the SHC to order the CBH to return all the amounts collected via parking fees since 2006. That amount should be distributed among the charities," said the petitioner. "Since this issue has already been adjudicated ... this petition [shall] be treated as contempt application," read the SHC's October 20 order. The CBH collects the parking fee from several localities, mainly in Saddar Town, in Hyderabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2015.